Daily Santorum: War on Porn!
Hold everything. Under the increasingly likely (or at least for the first time imaginable) Santorum administration Internet porn would be illegal. From the Daily Caller:
Santorum says in a statement posted to his website, "The Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to those who wish to preserve our culture from the scourge of pornography and has refused to enforce obscenity laws."
If elected, he promises to "vigorously" enforce laws that "prohibit distribution of hardcore (obscene) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier."
Although the idea of Santorum vanquishing Internet pornography may seem far-fetched, a serious effort to combat online smut might actually be successful, UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh told The Daily Caller.
"If the government wanted to aggressively move against Internet pornography, it could do so," explained Volokh. "Here's the deal: In most parts of the country, a lot of pornography on the Internet would plausibly be seen as obscene."
This presumably is a big deal with evangelical Christian athletes, not to mention metal gods. A week after Chargers QB/Alabama native Philip Rivers (above) endorsed Santorum, the campaign is hoping to repeat the magic in Puerto Rico with former Major Leaguer Carlos Baerga. His statement:
"I support Rick because he is a Christian and has fought for the people of Puerto Rico for many years, and stands behind the people on the issue of statehood."
Yeah, statehood. That's only going to happen if PR adopts English as its official language, he said yesterday in advance of its Sunday primary. That may not play well with Hispanic voters but it appeals to the conservative base -- speaking of, what about the theory that Santorum would gobble up that whole base if Newt Gingrich dropped out of the race? There's reason to think that's not the case, since Rick needs Newt to keep Romney from sailing to the nomination, says ABC:
Given Santorum's significant delegate deficit, his best hope of consolidating the more conservative vote — and more importantly, the resulting delegates — is to have Gingrich stay in the game all the way to the convention floor in Tampa, Fla.
So while waiting on the Lord may be an option for Team Santorum, ganging up with Gingrich is likely the better play. If the former Speaker's campaign keeps amassing delegates, Gingrich could accrue enough support that, when coupled with Santorum's, the total meets or exceeds that of the current frontrunner.
"The key to Santorum's strategy is to keep Romney's delegate count low and keep Santorum close," says GOP strategist Soren Dayton, who worked with a number of current Santorum advisers on the McCain campaign in 2008. While Santorum would rather go it alone in some winner-take-all states like Wisconsin and Maryland (April 3), having Gingrich in the running supports the broader strategy.
Santorum clearly feeds off being the underdog, and polls (such as those in Mississippi that never showed him in the lead) have been consistently off this year. Nate Silver looks at why.
Full public schedule (with a move to Missouri and Illinois) after the jump:
